Hello friends! Welcome to The Place Between blog. As you've already probably noted, I talk about the intersection of society, self, and spirit. This post is just a heads-up as to what you can expect from me and my content, since these topics aren't exactly narrow.

SPIRITI am not your yoga-pants, OM-chanting variety of spiritual. While I enjoy doing those things, I'm really not after ascending into the higher realms; I like it down here. I like to figure out how to connect to the higher realms while enjoying this worldly goodness. I cuss a lot, even when I'm talking about Spirit, and I'm cool with it. I gave up Catholicism a long time ago, and I don't believe you need anyone between you and Spirit. My flavor of spirituality is Earth-based with a leaning towards pathways I've learned from the indigenous elders I've been so effing lucky to study under, including Saundra Pathweaver, her sister Carol Fireheart, and Sweet Medicine Horse Nation.

I find incredible meaning in the natural world, especially in our animal kin. They have tons of messages for us - one of the greatest teachings I ever received was that plants are our healers, and animals are our teachers. They're here for us, and I'll do my best to interpret what I think those messages are on the blog.

Change the chaos around you by conquering the chaos within you.

If that means going all New Agey, awesome. If it means going to therapy, awesome. I'm behind you either way.

SELFWe are complex animals, aren't we? Floating somewhere between what our spiritual guides want us to know, and what society tells us we should know. You are the reason I'm here, writing this - I want you to find freedom and love from within yourself. There's nowhere else you're going to get it, babe. We have a lot to dismantle, and I'll do the best I can to help.

I'm a survivor of sexual assault, domestic violence, depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and I'm not afraid to talk about it. I will not let myself or you be shamed over the very real struggle of learning how to exist in a society that grew too quickly and in all the wrong directions, and that offers little support for our very real traumas (sometimes inflicted by religion). I honor your sensitivity as I learn to honor my own.

SOCIETYI recognize that there are hierarchies of power in society; I am oppressed for being female, but I benefit from being Caucasian, cisgender, educated, able-bodied, and Western. These are not topics I am willing to argue; there are a great many other places where those arguments can be entertained, but this is not one of them.

If you feel unclear about any of those words, check them out on Google, there are tons of great articles out there about how to be a good ally. I say, "If you catch me doing it, call me out," because dismantling our own privilege takes a long time and is an in-depth process. There's no doing it overnight, but I want this to be a safe space.

I believe that society devalues us from birth and benefits financially from doing so. I believe that society encourages us to place people into the categories of "good" and "bad," and "right" and "wrong." This promotes division and hostility, and I believe that this is bullshit. Part of my purpose in being here is to challenge such notions and provide perspectives against society's messages that can, I hope, help people to grow and heal in their hearts - and then spread that healing around them.

I believe that we need to learn and deeply understand one another's perspectives, particularly when it comes to the hierarchies of power. I believe that men need to listen to women about sexism, that Caucasians need to listen to People of Color about racism, that those without disabilities need to listen to those with disabilities about ableism, that cisgender people need to listen to trans people about transphobia, et cetera. We don't have time to argue opinions based in nothing but conjecture - people are suffering, right now, in this moment, and we must do all that we can to end that needless suffering.

We must put down our defenses and listen, learn compassion, and learn to give up What We Think We Know about how society works. We have a great deal of dismantling to do; let's do it together.